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Food Truck Turned Restaurant, Feeding the Bakken

After experiencing the chipotle burger myself, seeing my husband pick up a breakfast burrito more than a few times, and having a chuckle at the name, I wanted to know the story of Burgerrito’s.

While I meant to go interview the owner, Tony, we seemed to miss each other (ok, he stood me up) BUT his wife Shawn was there with her sister Sheila and I had a great time talking with them. Warm, friendly, hilarious. So Tony, you’re off the hook😉

Me: How’d the restaurant get its name?

Shawn (with a big laugh): Tony and his brother were joking around, saying it was 2 Pollocks trying to spell burrito. And it stuck!

The idea for Burgerrito’s started in Fargo, ND where Tony and his brother bought a wagon and hauled it out here to the Bakken. That was April of 2012. In the beginning they were only pulling in around $500/day. Not enough to sustain a business. But before long, word got out, and more and more trucks rolled in and business was booming.

They perched there on the edge of town next to an empty truck stop. They had their eye on that space. They started selling fireworks out of the empty building as a side business and soon abandoned their wagon and moved the food inside as well. Eat in or take out, there is plenty of space.

Me: Whats with the fireworks?

Shawn: Why not?

The crowd is a nice mix of what you might find in Watford City. Plenty of oil dudes, in their work clothes. I saw an adult couple sitting at a booth with another couple who looked to be their parents. And there was me, with my red head in a high chair, eating french fries.

Me: In a dirty fight who would win? Burger or Burrito?

Shawn: Burrito, of course.

Tony and Shawn live in a camper next to the restaurant for now but their double wide is set to be taken apart and moved here any day from Fargo. It will be set down on their property and then put back together, Shawn told me. Sheila chimed in teasing her sister about living in a camper. Shawn came right back, “It is perfectly acceptable for a person to live in a camper here!” And she’s right!

Me: Most food someone will eat in one sitting?

Shawn: There is actually a gentleman who comes in about once a week when he’s coming through town. He orders a 1 lb burger. 4 patties on there with all the fixins, drug through the garden, with a side of onion rings and a side order of the macaroni and some extra cheese on there. He eats every bite.

I asked Shawn her favorite part of living in Watford City and her response was the same one I would probably give: the people. She said their clientele is warm and friendly, don’t mind if she teases them, and tip well. Almost everyone here is away from most, if not all of their families. It bonds us in a summer camp, stuck on a (cold) desert island together kind of way. We need each other and the people are what make this place.

Shawn’s favorite item on the menu is the 1/2 lb Bacon Cheeseburger but says there is a lot of talk these days about their Philly. If you haven’t yet, you need to give them a try or go for the classic: The Burgerrito.